Heritage HONEY -uk

17/06/2026

Labels came!
This is the last jar of clear spring honey for the moment. I have more to extract.
Soft set all ready for sale. £7

17/06/2026

Soft set honey nearly ready!.
Just awaiting my labels...which are a legal requirement.
In the interest of the new honey regulations. Where has this honey come from......? Hive 4, field near Stone.

17/06/2026

Honey labels will be changing. They MUST tell you where your honey comes from. Honey in the supermarkets is one of the most adulterated product in their shelves. If it says non EU honey you can bet it's from China. Their bees rarely see flowers and after that it is over processed so contains no enzymes or beneficial properties.
You can buy honey for around £1 in supermarkets. If the jar and the lid come to almost £1..... What's in the jar. Mainly sugar.
My honey and any local Beekeeper will only have honey in the jar. We don't make up a batch when we have run out. It's sorting honey then it's summer honey, and they taste different. Every supermarket jar from the same company tastes exactly the same. What does that tell you? The bees aren't collecting nectar from flowers, they are being fed sugar water.
Buy local. It will cost more, but you know it's pure and unadulterated and dies you good 😊

The Rules on the Quality and Labeling of Honey will come into force on 14 June 2026. The key change, which transposes Directive (EU) 2024/1438, relates to the more precise labeling of the origin of honey blends. Instead of the current wording “blend of EU and non-EU honeys,” the packer will be r...

13/06/2026

Had help today. Harris do have any photos you can share?
3 hives still showing no sign of eggs or larvae, but it's early days for a new queen.
1 hive full to bursting so I've split it. 1 new hive with new queen that's laying well.
Look a little honey off so should have some clear honey by next weekend

09/06/2026

The soft set story continues. Each day it's a bit lighter and a bit thicker.
As it's my first attempt I will do as per instructions and whisk for a week.
It has to settle then for all the whisked air bubbles to rise to the surface. Then ready for jarring
I will sell only 12oz/340g jars at £7. The flavour and aroma is amazing.

07/06/2026

So it begins....soft set honey
My grainy spring honey is warmed to liquify with a temperature controlled jacket.
Once liquid I added pre seeded soft set honey with no crystals. Supplied by my friend at Honey
Mixed in with the biggest drill bit ever and combined for about 10 minutes.
The same process of mixing every 12 hours for the next week.
Watch this space!

05/06/2026

How many bees in a hive in the summer?
There can be up to 60000! This hive is a wonderful healthy calm colony.
Her Majesty has a blue dot on her head, last time I saw her it was wearing off. Really looked hard to find her today but with so many moving ladies it was impossible.
Sadly I feel I have lost a few queens to swarming. Inspections should be every 7 days in June to try and see the intent of the colony. Are they building queen cells, have some queen's emerged have they even swarmed? With this wet cold weather and the previous boiling weather it's been 10 to 12 days. A lot can happen in that time.
Currently 3 hives have no eggs or larvae and some queen cells that are sealed...ready for a new queen to emerge in 10 ISH days time. Then the new Virgin queen will have to mature, go on a mating flight, find her way back to the hive and hopefully commence laying within another week or so.
This will give the hive a brood break...good removing the parasites that like to prey on the larvae, but not so great for honey production and a strong hive into winter. It's still early in the year so fingers crossed they will regroup.

26/05/2026

25/05/2026

I don't have enough equipment to help if you see a swarm, standing at 6 hives and really that's enough work for me. The local council has a swarm collector or South Staffordshire Beekeepers Assn has many members who might be able to help. See the photo for your guidance

25/05/2026

BOILED IN A BEE SUIT. Medium rare I think.🥵🥵
I know, not a flattering photo. This is me after I cooled down and ate an ice lolly.

Not a good inspection day...but going away in May the busiest month for bee keeping I needed to see if the bees were preparing to swarm. And of course they were! 1 hive in particular had made multiple queen cells, many sealed some already emerged. I removed many which on checking just had larvae but 1 I opened to a brand new Virgin queen who crawled up my finger and I popped her in the hive. Thrilled!

Another hive so full I could see they were starting to prepare a queen cell so I have spilt them into a smaller nuc box with food and nurse bees. Blame the heat, but I'm now thinking I didn't choose a frame with eggs. They can't make a new queen from anything but an egg up to 3 days old. A return visit when cooler to check.

Honestly I had to bail out before the last 2 hives as it was now midday. Scorching. Trying to cool off in the shade, drink water, pour it over my head and strip off the suit, a spicy bee decided to get in my hair and sting my neck. 😞.

Great hobby Beekeeping it keeps you on your toes. Oh...and the video I took of them at work....so hard you could hear them through the hive walls turned out to be a photo. 😳